As centenas de etnias e línguas do Sudão

Sudan has 597 tribes that speak over 400 different languages and dialects [128] split into two major cultural groupings: Sudanese Arabs of the largely Muslim Northern Sudan versus Sudanese non-Muslim of the largely Christian and animist Nilote Southern Sudan. These two groups consist of hundreds of smaller ethnic and tribal divisions, and in the latter case, language groups.

As with Moroccans, Egyptians, Palestinians, and most other non-Arabian Peninsula Arabs, most Sudanese Arabs are "Arabs" in linguistic, cultural and ethnic association, rather than ancestry. They descended primarily from the pre-existing indigenous populations; that is, the ancient Nubians. Sudanese Arabs are thus, biologically speaking, most closely related to Sudanese non-Arabs, and vice versa. The Nubians share a common history with Ethiopians up to a point (see ancient Kush, and Axum). In common with much of the rest of the Arab World, the gradual process of Arabisation in northern Sudan led to the predominance of the Arabic language and aspects of Arab culture, leading to the shift among a majority of northern Sudanese today to an Arab ethnic identity. This process was furthered both by the spread of Islam and an emigration to Sudan of genealogical Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, and their intermarriage with the Arabized indigenous peoples of the country.

The northern states cover most of Sudan and include most of the urban centers. Most of the 22 million Sudanese who live in this region are Arabic-speaking Muslims, though the majority also use a traditional non-Arabic mother tongue (e.g. Nubian, Beja, Fur, Nuban, Ingessana, etc) as education is in Arabic language. Among these are several distinct tribal groups: the camel-raising Kababish of northern Kordofan; the Dongolawiyin (الدنقلاويين); the Ga’aliyin (الجعلين); the Rubatab (الرباطاب); the Manasir (المناصير); the Shaiqiyah (الشايقيّة); the Bideiria ; the semi-nomadic Baggara of Kurdufan and Darfur; the Beja and Hausa people in the Red Sea area and who extend into Eritrea; and the Nubians of the northern Nile areas, some of whom have been resettled on the Atbara River.

Shokrya in the Butana land, Bataheen bordering the Ga’alin and Shokrya in the southwest of Butana. Rufaa, Halaween,Fulani (فولاني) and many other tribes have settled in the Gazeera region and on the banks of the Blue Nile, Damazine and the Dindir region. The Nuba of southern Kurdufan and Fur in the western reaches of the country.

The Southern region has a population of around six million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. This region has been affected by war for all but 10 years since the country's independence in 1956, resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructure development, and major destruction and displacement. More than two million people have died, and more than four million are internally displaced or have become refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts.

Here a majority of the population practices traditional indigenous beliefs, although some practice Christianity, a result of Christian missionary efforts. The south also contains many tribal groups and many more languages are used than in the north. The Dinka, whose population is estimated at more than one million, are the largest of the many ethnic groups of Sudan. Along with the Shilluk, also the Nuer and the Bari who consist of five other tribes, Pojulu, Mundari, Kuku, Kakaw and Ngangwara are Nilotic tribes.

The Azande, Bor, and Jo Luo are “Sudanic” tribes in the west, and the Acholi and Lotuhu live in the extreme south, extending into Uganda. Unlike northern Sudan, Arabisation and Islamisation have been limited in the south as the region's permanent merger with the north is relatively recent, dating back to the union with Egypt in the 19th Century. As a result, Arab self-identification amongst people in the south is almost exclusively limited to those of northern Sudanese origin, with the vast majority of southern Sudanese rejecting Arab identity.

Wikipédia